Katie Boulter made a perfect start to her campaign in Linz by defeating Italian sixth seed Jasmine Paolini 6-2 6-2 to set up a last-16 date with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
The British No 1, who went out of this year’s Australian Open following defeat to eventual finalist Qinwen Zheng, put on an excellent performance at the indoor hardcourt event to storm into the next round with the fourth victory of her career against a top-25 opponent.
Boulter, who hammered down four aces, with 23 winners and 14 unforced errors during her win, said: “I had one game plan and that was to come out swinging and I did that. It’s my first time in Linz so I just wanted to enjoy myself and I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
There was also good news for fellow Brit Jodie Burrage who battled back from a set down to defeat Germany’s Anna-Lena Friedsam 5-7 6-3 6-2 and qualify for the main draw.
Meanwhile, Elina Svitolina was forced to pull out of the tournament due to a back problem that had been bothering her at the Australian Open, while Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova also withdrew after suffering a shoulder injury.
Nadal’s 2007 French Open winning racket sells for $118k at auction
Rafael Nadal’s winning racket from his 2007 French Open final victory over Roger Federer was sold for more than $118,000 (£93,000) at an auction on Monday.
Nadal beat Federer 6-3 4-6 6-3 6-4 in the 2007 final in Paris to win his third Grand Slam title before the Spaniard moved on to secure a further 19 – 14 of them at Roland Garros – becoming one of the sport’s greatest players.
It became the third most valuable tennis racket behind Nadal’s 2022 Australian Open racket auctioned at $139,700 and Billie Jean King’s ‘Battle of the Sexes’ racket sold for $125,000.
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